Dutch Oven Whole Chicken with Meyer Lemon

Dutch Oven Whole Chicken with Meyer Lemon is a show-stopping roasted chicken and the perfect centerpiece for a weeknight meal or family gathering. The whole chicken is cooked in one pot and has crispy skin, juicy meat, and a bright and herby citrus flavor. It only requires a few minutes of prep to make this succulent chicken recipe.

You will wow your friends and family with this beautiful roasted chicken! Its bright flavors and fragrant herbs pay homage to California and its abundance of fresh produce. It smells and tastes of fragrant rosemary and thyme and zesty meyer lemon.

Roasting it in a dutch oven allows for the skin to get crispy and golden and the meat to stay juicy. Serve this golden roasted chicken on a serving plate with rosemary and lemon for added garnish.

Jump to:

• About This Dish
• Why Buy a Whole Chicken
• Choosing a Whole Chicken
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• What to Serve with Dutch Oven Whole Chicken
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Storage
• What to Make with Leftover Chicken
• Top Tips
• How to Make Tender and Moist Chicken
• Dutch Oven vs Slow Cooker
• Related Recipes
• Did You Like This Recipe?
• 📖 Recipe

About This Dish

• Taste - The seasoned chicken is bright and flavorful.
• Texture - Our slow roasting process ensures that the chicken is moist and tender.
• Effort - It takes some effort to prepare the chicken then you just need to let it cook.
• Time - It takes about a half hour to prep the chicken then one and a half hours to cook.

Why Buy a Whole Chicken

First, a whole roast chicken is cheaper per pound than buying chicken pieces. Additionally, the bones and skin create a superior flavor to boneless, skinless chicken. After all of the meat is eaten, boil the leftover chicken carcass in a pot of water with carrots, onion, and herbs to make chicken stock for other recipes.

Choosing a Whole Chicken

You can buy a whole roast chicken at most grocery stores, butchers, or farmers markets. Organic, free-range chicken often has the best flavor because the chickens are given free range to eat omega-rich critters in the grass. Additionally, the process in which the animals are raised is cleaner and more humane.

Ingredients

• Whole roast chicken - the skin and bones of a whole chicken results in a lot of rich flavors. Choose organic and free-range for even better flavor and to support cleaner, better farming practices.   
• Meyer lemon or regular lemon - adds a yummy citrus flavor to the meat and makes for a beautiful garnish.
• Butter - locks in the moisture and makes the skin golden and extra crispy.
• Rosemary - subtle, savory flavor that helps bring out the flavors of the dish.
• Sage - adds a subtle mint, eucalyptus, and lemon profile.
• Thyme - adds a sharp and peppery flavor that blends well with the other aromatics.
• Onion - an aromatic that enhances the other flavors.
• Kosher salt - a coarse salt that penetrates through the meat to make it tender and flavorful.
• Pepper - freshly cracked to add spice.

Instructions

• Prepare the chicken - Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Take the chicken and remove the giblets then pat the chicken dry with a paper towel. 
• Stuff the chicken - Stuff the chicken with the sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Next, place the chicken inside of the dutch oven.
• Make the butter and herb mixture - In a bowl, mix lemon juice, butter, chopped sage, rosemary, thyme, kosher salt, and cracked pepper. Brush the chicken with the butter and herb mixture, covering the entire top and sides of the chicken. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with the leftover lemon and onion. Truss the chicken legs by tying them together with baker’s twine. If you don’t have baker’s twine, you can skip the trussing.

• Cook the chicken - Place the lid on the dutch oven and cook the chicken in the oven for 1 hour. Remove dutch oven lid and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and crispy. Remove the chicken from the oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before carving and serving.

Pro tip: If you prefer the chicken to be more juicy than crispy, cook the chicken with the lid on for more time and cook the chicken without the lid for less time.  For example, you can cook the chicken with the lid on for 70 minutes then without the lid for 10 minutes.

What to Serve with Dutch Oven Whole Chicken

If you want to make this cozy roast chicken recipe for a Thanksgiving meal or are just looking for delicious sides, check out these roasted chicken sides:

• Mashed Potatoes with Miso Butter
• Harvest Quinoa Salad with Arugula
• Maple Roasted Kabocha
• Sautéed French Green Beans
• Sautéed Mushrooms with White Wine

Substitutions

• Regular lemon - Substitute the meyer lemons with regular lemons. Regular lemons are easier to access than meyer lemons and the taste is very similar.
• Shallot - Use shallots instead of onion.  It has a milder taste that some people prefer.  
• Orange - Use an orange instead of a lemon for a fragrant and different citrus taste.

Variations

• Garlic Roasted Chicken - Rub garlic powder over the chicken before cooking it in the oven. To make the chicken extra garlicky, take a bulb of garlic and chop a half inch off of the top. Then, stuff the garlic bulb in the chicken cavity.
• Spicy - Add paprika to the butter and herb mixture for extra kick.
• Wild Rice Stuffed Roasted Chicken - Stuff the chicken with wild rice to make a roasted chicken that is both flavorful and hearty.

Storage

The way you store leftover chicken will depend on how much leftover chicken you have. If you need to store most of the chicken, store it in the fridge in the covered dutch oven to lock in the moisture. Alternatively, carve the chicken and store in air-tight containers with the juices. Store the chicken in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat the chicken, slice it, put it on a baking dish or baking sheet, and reheat it in the oven at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.

What to Make with Leftover Chicken

• Make a sandwich - Slice the  leftover chicken and make a sandwich. You can make our Hawaiian Roll Sliders, just use the rotisserie chicken instead of turkey.  
• Make chicken stock - You can use the bones of the chicken and the onion to make a homemade chicken stock, which you can then freeze and use for soups in the future.
• Meal Prep - This recipe makes for great meal prep recipe for busy weeks.

Top Tips

• Make sure the chicken is completely defrosted before you begin preparing it. If the chicken is too cold, the meat will get tough when you cook it due to the temperature change.
• Softened butter is pliable and can be easily spread onto the chicken compared to cold butter. One way to keep butter soft is to leave it out before adding it to the chicken or storing your butter in a butter keeper, like this French Kitchen Marble Butter Keeper or this Stoneware Butter Keeper.

How to Make Tender and Moist Chicken

A large dutch oven, like this Staub 5.75-Qt Coq Au Vin Cocotte, will lock in all of the moisture in the chicken resulting in juicy, flavorful meat. Once you remove the lid from the cocotte, the chicken cooks in its juices while the skin turns golden.

The olive oil and butter locks in all of the herbs and juices as the chicken cooks. Finally, salt penetrates through the meat and seasons the chicken through and through making the meat tender and flavorful.

Dutch Oven vs Slow Cooker

Roasted chicken is best cooked in a dutch oven or roasting pan. These methods are superior to using a slow cooker or crock pot for 2 main reasons: 

1. Slow cookers do not reduce liquid - While slow cookers are convenient, they do not reduce liquid well. In comparison, a cast-iron dutch oven cooks evenly and reduces the chicken juices, resulting in rich, concentrated flavor.
2. Slow cookers do not brown - Slow cookers only cook slowly, they do not brown or add any variation in texture like a standard dutch oven does. In contrast, cooking a whole chicken in a dutch oven without a lid results in juicy, tender meat and crispy, golden skin.

Related Recipes

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